Rilo Kiley

Description

"Rilo Kiley’s audiences have a strong tendency to fall in love on the spot. Perhaps it’s their beaming faces or laid-back, admirable West Coast attitudes. Or maybe it’s just their uncanny knack for designing nuanced pop songs and performing them with flair. Maybe it’s lead singers Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennet‘s adorable onstage banter and scissors-sharp wit. Whatever that little something extra is, Los Angeles, CA’s Rilo Kiley has it times ten.

Eclectic electric twang meets masterful songwriting on The Execution of All Things, Rilo Kiley’s second full-length album. Take Offs and Landings, their 2001 debut on Seattle’s infamous Barsuk label, was met with adoration from critics and audiences alike. With Liz Phair narrative sensibility, Bettie Serveert compositional beauty, and Beachwood Sparks sunshine, Rilo Kiley’s latest is a lyrically dense treasure that will have you searching for the story behind the evocative songs. In a word…sweeet."

- saddle-creek.com

"Jenny Lewis knows about the mainstream-- she started off her career as a child actor in late 80s and early 90s cult classics like Troop Beverly Hills. And now that little Hannah Neffler is all grown up, her band Rilo Kiley has signed to Warner Bros. It's not a huge shock, really, since the band has jumped to different labels for each of their three albums since first signing with Barsuk for their 2001 debut Take-Offs and Landings: Their second album, 2002's The Execution of All Things, bore the sensitive Saddle Creek logo, for instance, while their latest, More Adventurous, was self-released on their own Brute/Beaute imprint, and distributed via Warner Bros." -pitchforkmedia.com

"She was born Leslie Feist in Calgary in the mid-'70s but goes by her surname when it comes to making music for a living. The Jhay-inspired songstress got her start playing in a high-school punk band called Placebo (not to be confused with the U.K. modern rock act of the same name). After winning a battle of the bands contest, Placebo played their first gig opening for the Ramones, and for the next five years, Feist perfected her rock ways. Touring cross-Canada in the end took its tool on Feist. She had strained her voice so much, she was told she'd never sing again. To regain focus and medical assistance from another specialist, Feist fled her hometown to settle in Toronto in 1998. She spent six months holed up by herself in a basement with a four-track recorder. She bought a guitar as a means of temporarily replacing her voice and began crafting a natural pop sound. A year later, Feist was playing guitar for By Divine Right. She went on to play in front of countless stadium crowds as By Divine Right opened for the Tragically Hip across North America. Somewhere in between touring with some of Canada's biggest acts, Feist found time to record and self-released her first solo album, 1999's Monarch (Lay Down Your Jeweled Head). After playing some smaller local gigs in and around Toronto, Feist moved in with electroclash rap vixen Peaches in 2000. Peaches christened Feist Bitch Lap-Lap and from there, Feist sang on and toured in support of Peaches' debut album, Teaches of Peaches. Not one to stay too long in once place, Feist joined Broken Social Scene in the recording of their sophomore effort, You Forgot It in People. The album, which was released in 2002, became a critical success among the indie crowds after winning a Juno Award for "Alternative Album of the Year} in 2003. Feist had already had plans for a second solo album by this time. When she wasn't touring North America and Europe with Broken Social Scene, Feist and Renaud Letang of Manu Chao and Chilly Gonzales went back and forth between Calgary, Toronto, and Paris for its recording. Let It Die was released on Arts & Crafts in May 2004. Feist has also contributed vocals to works by Kings of Convenience, Apostle of Hustle, and Jane Birkin. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide